Teen Prostitution

Tens of thousands of female teens enter into prostitution every year. While there is some debate over the precise scope and nature of teen prostitution in the United States, it is generally believed by most experts that at least 1 million teens engage in prostitution annually. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, 1.3 million children are homeless or runaways in the United States. By some estimates, ninety percent of these children will sell their bodies as a means to survive. The worst part is that with all of this being said, there are still millions of cases that go unknown when it comes to teen prostitution. One thing that must be noted while learning about the subject is that is is very different from sex trafficking. As you read,

However, there is a few very distinctive differences between the two, in some cases, that must be addressed. In sex trafficking, the victim is either captured, or manipulated into selling their bodies to random people. This is not by choice; they are usually threatened into selling sexual favors. The person in most cases threatens to kill them or their families if they do not perform the things that they are told to do, or if they do not bring back enough money. Most of the victims do those things because they want to protect themselves, or their families. In teen prostitution, it is mostly by choice, however it is now said that most of it is controlled by “pimps” because they resort to selling sexual favors to make money. The second distinction between the two, is where the money goes after they sell their bodies. In teen prostitution it is for themselves in most cases, unless they are controlled by a pimp, then they only make some profit, because they are unable to get a job and need to make money somehow. It is usually homeless females that have ran away from terrible living conditions, and need to make it on their own. Sex trafficking however, the victims are used to sell their bodies, and give the money that they make back to whoever is forcing them to do these things. If they do not make enough money, they are beaten, raped and sometimes even

In the area that I live in specifically, it is unheard of to do those things because of the wealth, good living conditions, and great education that we are surrounded by. People need to be informed of the seriousness of this before they are quick to judge how disgusting the topic can be viewed as. An estimated 5,000 children lose their lives on the streets of America each year due to assault, overdose, suicide or illness. Ninety percent of teenage girls are induced, coerced or forced into teen prostitution by a pimp. About eighty to ninety-five percent of pimps are believed to control teen prostitution in the America. With all of this knowledge, I think its important that people know about teen prostitution because it is being called the new type of slavery in America. Some of teen prostitution is by choice, but that is only about ten percent of the cases that are known in the United States. People are quick to judge how someone could do this in the first place, especially if you are born in a wealthy area, but the reality of it is actually frightening and very upsetting. With ninety percent of cases being handled by pimps, and ten percent being choice-based, these are only 1/3 of the cases in the United States. 2/3